''Fugitive Lovers'' is a 1934 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

comedy drama film directed by Richard Boleslavsky. Released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, it stars Madge Evans and Robert Montgomery with a supporting cast of Nat Pendleton, C. Henry Gordon, Ruth Selwyn, and Ted Healy and his Stooges, who are credited as "The Three Julians" in this production.

Plot

Letty Morris is a New York dancer who is shunning the advances of smalltime gangster "Legs" Caffey. When he insists on taking her to Atlantic City despite her repeated rejection, she decides to sneak off on a bus to Hollywood; Legs intercepts her and boards the bus, as well, determined to win her over. The bus is filled with colorful characters, including a singing trio the Three Julians and exuberant tippler Hector Withington, Jr. As the bus passes through Eton, Pennsylvania, in the middle of the night, convict Paul Porter makes his escape from the local penitentiary and hides among the luggage, swapping his prison clothes for one of Withington's suits. During a stopover in

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

, Porter buys a seat on the bus, whereon Letty sits next to him to avoid Legs, who quickly deduces that the new passenger is Porter and threatens to turn him in. Withington gets off the bus and discovers Porter's outfit in his luggage, and informs the police; when Legs tells Porter, he quickly gets off the bus. Porter reunites with Letty in St. Louis; they check into a hotel in separate rooms, waiting for the heat to die down to escape together, but Legs tracks Letty down. As they are about to leave, the police arrive and mistake Legs for Porter; he is about to correct them and lead them to Porter, but seeing Letty tear up, Legs realizes she is in love with Porter and allows the police to take him away. Letty continues on the bus alone, along with Detective Daly, who pressures her for information on Porter and waits for him to rejoin her. A blizzard forces the bus to stop and the passengers are put up in bungalows; as the police close in, Porter steals the bus, and Letty joins him. As they escape, they happen on a crashed school bus filled with freezing children, and stop to help, but are then snowed in. The next day, the police arrive and rescue the children, and arrest Porter and Letty. Due to Porter's bravery, though, he is given a pardon.

Cast

* Robert Montgomery as Paul Porter, aka Stephen Blaine * Madge Evans as Letty Morris * Ted Healy as Hector Withington, Jr. * Nat Pendleton as Legs Caffey * C. Henry Gordon as Detective Daly * Ruth Selwyn as Babe Callahan * Moe Howard as one of the Julians *

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 4, 1902 – January 24, 1975), better known by his stage name Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges and was often called "The Middle St ...

as one of the Julians * Jerry Howard as one of the Julians

References

*
''Fugitive Lovers''
at ThreeStooges.net * The Three Stooges films 1934 films Films directed by Ryszard Bolesławski Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1934 comedy-drama films American black-and-white films American comedy-drama short films 1930s American films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub